Kiba's Destiny
by MelliCorynne
Summary: Even as a young pup, Kiba had always followed his instincts. When all hope was lost, one strong image would appear in his mind the lunar flower. This thought gave him the courage and strength to find Paradise.
1. Kiba's Beginnings

Eeeeep... It's been a little while since I've watched Wolf's Rain... well... okay, only two months, but still... if I'm rusty on some of my details, forgive me.

This is kind of a narrative of Kiba before he met up with the other wolves. Y'know, all that good stuff. Yeah.

Prolouge - Beginnings

Lunar flowers. I've always, always been drawn to them. Even as a puppy, I rolled in the grass next to them. If I'd only known, then, that I'd want - no, dream of - them later, maybe I would have remembered. Oh, but I do remember. I remember losing everyone. I remember losing the lunar flowers. My family. My hopes. My dreams. Everything I had, I lost.

I don't remember much from my happy puppy days, that is, before losing everything. Perhaps I should call it my 'childhood' as these humans like to call it. I can only recall the way things looked, and silly little things, like what Mother and I did one day.

I remember Mika, quiet Mika. She was a black pup with a white stripe on her head. She whined loudly when we, that is, my brother, Haruki, and I played too rough with her. She was mom's favorite, there was no doubt. Haruki was a brown pup who just looked dirty all the time. He wasn't very cute, and his fur didn't shine much, not even as a pup. The other mother wolves always seemed to pity him; he wasn't even puppy-cute. Mika and I, supposedly, were adorable. Haruki never seemed jealous, though. He always treated us as if we were to stay together forever.

Oh, how I hate that we didn't.

I don't have specific memories of being a happy pup; not really, anyway. I can remember Mika and I playing in some white flowers, lunar flowers, one day, and Haruki biting my ear, but that's about it. Honestly, I don't remember much else, not until my first 'trial', as I sometimes think of it.

I can't remember their life, not well, anyway, but I can remember their death as clear as day. I wish I couldn't, to tell you the truth, but maybe, just maybe, they are what drive me to do what I do. Maybe the spirits of Haruki and Mika have found their way into me, and that's why I, Kiba, won't stop until I reach it. Paradise. Maybe finding Paradise is my contribution to them. I'm not sure why, but my instincts push me to find Paradise. But I'm going off track.

I remember a fire. A bright, red and orange fire. It was dancing in my eyes, and I heard my mother howl. I didn't understand what was so horrifying about the fire - to me, it looked interesting. Exciting. I thought this, at least, until I saw it consume one of my treasured lunar flowers. Just like that, it was gone. And it seems like I knew then that that simple lunar flower of mine would only be the first of losses. Instincts, again, told me to expect the worst.

And the worst is what I got, without a doubt. I remember feeling my mother's jaws around my neck, holding me tightly. She pulled me, first, as I was the youngest, smallest, and most defenseless, to a safe place and left me there. I whimpered.

"I'll be back," she'd told me, "with the others." I sat and waited for her, but somehow, somehow I felt it in me that she wouldn't return. Not with the others, at least. I prayed for them to return, but it was all empty hope.

I laid in my safe spot all night, whimpering and crying. They were gone; I didn't even want to go look for them. They were gone. They were gone.

My family. Mother. Mika. Haruki.

They were gone.

And just as I wished that I was gone, too, I felt something warm on my back. My muscles tensed, not knowing what it was, but I was lifted from my spot on the ground. I stared into the face of a human, and for the first time, I was thankful to. Long hair danced around his face, just as the fire danced around the lunar flowers. Strange, really, how I automatically felt drawn to him, as I'd been to the fire. I pawed at his hair, and he smiled. He turned, with me in his arms, and walked into the opposite direction.

It seemed as if I laid there forever, in his arms. I dozed off, after a while, but I did'nt have pleasant dreams. In my dreams, I saw my mother howling as the fire consumed her. I saw Mika whimpering as she was surrounded by the fire. I saw Haruki, bravely waiting for his own death. And finally, I saw a lunar flower being consumed by the fire in slow motion. I woke up howling, and the strange, long-haired man patted my head.

"It's okay," he'd told me, and somehow, his words were soothing to me. I quieted immediately as he stroked my back. Finally, we reached his home. He had a family. A beautiful family. I couldn't help but feel envious, even at my young age.

He never gave me an official name. I was always "the white wolf." And the way he said it - the way his family said it - it was almost as if they were, at times, reverent to me. Reverent to my destiny. They seemed to know something that I didn't.

I always wondered what it was.

But I grew up with those humans, as their dog, their friend. Their source of entertainment, I suppose. I didn't mind - they amused me, as well. I didn't mind at the time, anyway. I didn't know the difference between a dog and a wolf. Neither did they.

I remember sitting in front of the campfire as they played a traditional tune. Drums. Flutes. My mind was racing with thoughts of... what was this place? Where was this place? I didn't even know what I was dreaming about. But my eyes grew as they watched the fire, and I knew my destiny.

"Go find paradise," the human had told me. And I knew. Paradise was my destiny.

I left into the warmth of a summer night, full of a new hope. Was it hope? Perhaps it was instinct. I don't know. I ran without tiring for what seemed like forever. This was my beginning. This forest; it's where it all began.

Okay, short, I know, but I'm just kind of doing a testing phaaaase as for now. I'm going to read up and watch a few more episodes of Wolf's Rain, and the next chapter, maybe, will be better. This, really, is just a prolouge anyway. I may end up adding a few more memories in future chapters, just to expand this. Mwahahaha. So if you liked it, tell meh, and I'll... er... keep writing. If you didn't, I'll still keep writing. Oh, and I do know that I start sentences with "and" and "but"... I'm making it dramatic. I'm not an idiot. XD.


	2. A Fateful Rain

I kind of realize this chapter rushes a bit, but be patient with me! I'm having creativity problems. Besides, it's almost Christmas. Come on. Christmas. And oh, I also realize that the mood kind of switches from dramatic to comedic a little ways in there, but I felt uncomfortable making things so... overly dramatic. I had to add some comedy, or my creativity would have run completely dry. Not to expect this chapter to be extremely funny or anything. Oh, just read it and review. XD. By the way, thanks for the reviews! Animanga Fan, thanks... I know you said all this nice stuff about it being deep and stuff, and I appreciate that... so don't be too mad at me for the comedy at the end of this chapter? meep? Tenshi Akire, thanks for the review! Sorry for making it so sad. See what I meant about overly dramatic? Haha. And Wolf of the Blue Moon! Thanks for the review... hehe... is this updated soon enough? Sorry for taking so long. ;;

Goodness. I just apologized to all of my reviewers. And they were good reviews.

Hahaha.

Chapter 1 - A Fateful Rain

I found the forest a place of solace as I travelled through it. Silence seemed to follow me everywhere I went, except for the few birds chirping overheard. I suppose all the small animals were too afraid to approach me. It was just as well, I thought, because I needed time to think. To think over what the old man had told me, and how they'd related with my instincts.

I had to find lunar flowers, it seemed. Surely that quest wouldn't be too hard; I'd just left a place full of them. I trotted through the forest with a hope, a faith in my heart that I hadn't experienced since before my family's death. The pat-pat of my feet stirred up a strange rhythm in my head, a rhythm that was just as soothing as the silence around me. The forest seemed to go on for miles, but I wasn't getting tired anytime soon. At first, I'd thought, that maybe, a higher power was on my side.

However, exhaustion was bound to hit me sometime, and this time it hit me as I came to a wide stream I'd have to swim across. It wasn't hard work, not at all, but I found myself desiring to take a drink and sleep under a tree for the night. It wouldn't be much of a drawback, I concluded as I let the cool water touch my tongue. It was refreshing and energizing; I lapped and lapped for a long time. It wasn't until I'd had a nice fill of water that I'd figured out that I was beginning to get hungry, too. But where could I find food in such an extended forest? I was used to being fed - I wasn't a hunter.

So, as I curled under a tree, I encountered my first problem: Hunger. Little did I know just how common that problem would be. I had trouble drifting off to sleep that night, no matter how exhausted I was. The silence I had come to be familiar with was now interrupted as owls hooted as they swooped down on their prey. It only reminded me of how hungry I was, hearing animals squeal as they met certain death. My hunger pangs were even working against me. Finally, however, I thought of the lunar flower, the wonderful, beautiful, impossible lunar flower, and found myself drifting off to sleep.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

My eyes fluttered open in confusion as I felt a strange coolness on my nose.

Drip, drip, drip.

The wind picked up through the trees and I stood, my bewilderment gone.

Drip, drip, drip.

Rain. It was just my luck, wasn't it? To have my sleep interrupted by rain. Ah, it didn't matter anyway; I was only resting for a little while, anyway.

However, as I approached the stream, I found it to be quite a bit bigger than it had originally been. It had swollen under the rain, and it was... a little rough now, too. For a puppy, the sight was unnerving. But I had to cross. I had to get across and find paradise. If I let a stupid little stream like this bring me down, I'd never find paradise.

So I approached the stream and slipped a paw in. The rushing water was almost unbelieveably forceful, but I had to deal with it. I placed my other paw into the water and stood, half in and half out of the water, for a moment. The water was cold; extremely cold. But I jumped in anyway, and began to try to swim across.

I had extreme difficulty with this; I wasn't swimming directly to my destination. The water would carry me off a ways, and then I would be swimming against the current and... it was extremely hard. Finally, a foul wind blew upon me and I felt myself lose control of the position I was in. I was being carried by a rough stream. A rough stream. I was ashamed of myself as my head went under and resurfaced countless times. I attempted to grab out at branches with my mouth, but to no avail. I was doomed to be lost, to have my journey interrupted, to fail.

All at once, I could feel the stream settle down, and my eyes drifted to the sky. I'd been carried away from the rain. However, I was exhausted from all the fighting I'd just done against the rough waters, and the stream just carried me farther and farther down. It was even small now, but I couldn't find the strength to try to get to shore. Something even told me to go ahead and let it carry me; perhaps instinct.

Just as I was about to find footing, I bumped into something.

"Awwww!" I heard, and I knew then that I was doomed.

I felt hands against my exhausted body, and was turned towards a human face, feeling de ja vu all over again. This time it was a small girl's hair, however, that attracted my attention so. I didn't paw at it; instead, I whined as she patted my head and carried me up through a strange village and to her house.

I was already failing my journey. I knew it. Something was wrong. I didn't need to be here. I needed to be on the other side of that stream, heading out towards... well, did I even know where I was headed?

"Awwww!" I heard again, but this time, there were at least four little voices saying it.

I was doomed.

There was no doubt about it.

"What a cute puppy!" "Adorable!" "Awww!" "Can we keep it, mom, can we keep it?"

Oh gosh. No. Please, mom, say no.

"Sure, you can keep it."

Oh, oh. I was doomed. But I was too exhausted to fight, right? So I just let all these little hands run up and down my back. I won't deny it. It felt great compared to that crazy river-stream I'd just escaped from. I even whined a little - I couldn't decide if it was because I was doomed or if it was because I was really, really liking all this petting.

After a bit of petting, the mother decided I was probably hungry. Doomed? Did I say doomed? Not quite. Maybe just a little thrown off track. I decided that's what it was. Thrown off track. And as the mother filled a bowl with milk and bread, I never felt more thankful for a human in my life. She set the bowl down and I ran to it in my exhausted state, lapping up the milk and eating the bread until my belly couldn't stand it anymore. I collapsed next to the bowl and had no trouble going to sleep.


End file.
